


Iron Man Bingo March 2019

by atlaswrote



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Naruto Fusion, Alternate Universe - Office, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Tangled (2010) Fusion, Blind Date, Coffee Shops, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Father's Day, Hogwarts AU, Iron Man Bingo 2019, Irondad, Multi, Mutant Tony Stark, Mutual Pining, Parent Tony Stark, Promposal, Secret Admirer, Sharing a Bed, Shovel Talk, Single Parents, Weddings, do not copy to another site, lucky is the best trash dog, miles!!!!, rhodey really is that bitch lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-29 22:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18302924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atlaswrote/pseuds/atlaswrote
Summary: a masterpost of all my iron man bingo fills





	Iron Man Bingo March 2019

**Author's Note:**

> hey!! this has been whats eatin my time but now it's done with and i blacked out that card thank god. all the tws are in the ficlets themselves. if i forgot something just drop a comment and i will fix it!

_Hogwarts AU_

The sorting hat roared Slytherin and James Rhodes, age 11 and, more importantly furious, set his jaw. The look on Tony’s face was terrified, and the look on the Slytherins face was something akin to possessiveness and James wasn’t about to let Tony go it alone.

If Tony Stark was going to be sent to Slytherin, so was he.

He stepped up the dias with a calm stride and a straight face, nothing belying the anger pumping in his veins. The sorting hat flopped over his head and the rest of the world disappeared.

“Send me to Slytherin.” He said, voice low and calm, perfected after years of dealing with younger siblings. The hat stilled on his head.

“And why should I do that?” The hat asked back, contemplative.  

“I have a goal and I intend to achieve it, even if that means being a Slytherin.” He heard something like a laugh and tensed, preparing to argue.

“I do believe these next few years will be very, _very_ , interesting.” The hat roared Slytherin again and James took of the hat. He smiled at the shocked faces and sat himself practically on top of Tony.

He didn’t quite know what it meant to be a Slytherin, but he figured it’ll be fascinating enough.

* * *

_Coffee Shop AU_

Pepper was really getting tired of playing matchmaker for Tony and Rhodey. Well, more accurately, she was tired of fielding all of their suitors that showed up at the shop.

She ran a little hole in the wall cafe, and Tony would come to help out sometimes. He’d managed to rope one of his college friends, James “Rhodey” Rhodes, into helping out as well. Their combined charisma and genuine love for everyone had earned them a fan club of sorts.

There was Steve Rogers, art student at the local community college. He was polite and kind, which made up for being as large as a bus. Sometimes he brought with him Bucky Barnes.

From what Pepper understood, he was a war vet.

“He told me he served in Afghanistan. I think he left a piece of himself there too.” Rhodey would give him something extra and talk to him, and Steve would look at him with stars in his eyes.

He would look like Rhodey hung the moon every time Bucky would talk back.

Eventually Steve started showing up with another young man, Sam Wilson, and Pepper thought she might have found someone that could out-flirt Tony.

He almost did once, but then Rhodey shuffled in and called them ‘really pretty’ and they both stuttered after him for at least five minutes.

Then there was Natasha Romanoff and her crew. Pepper still couldn’t figure out whether or not Natasha wanted to date both Tony and Rhodey or adopt them, but she was the only one that Pepper would maybe want to steal as her own.

She refused to embarrass herself and tell that to the boys, though.

Natasha often brought Clint around with her. When Tony found out he was deaf, he spent an entire day teaching himself ASL. Natasha nodded to herself and Pepper contemplated, not for the first time, that they were doing this on purpose.

The next time she visited she brought a man named Bruce Banner and practically threw him at Tony.

“Tell them to work their magic, Clint hasn’t slept this well in years.”

“Don’t have to tell them, that’s just their personality.”

Bruce was less tense within the hour. Pepper heard Natasha calling a Matt Murdock and asking him to come around.

At this rate, Pepper was going to have to make a list.

* * *

_“We share an office but we have different shifts”_

Tony worked the graveyard shift at any job he had, it was just custom. He was too used to sleeping during the day not to. He didn’t mind it much.

He minded it even less when got to see Mr. Barnes, the person who worked the shift before his. He was his name on the schedule hanging on the wall, but seeing his name and seeing his face were two different things.

He was hot. But more than that, he was hot and nice. He was polite whenever he saw Tony, would gladly help Tony whenever he asked.

Tony had a type, and that was it.

So maybe he left flowers at the office and maybe he offered to help more than he usually did, but it wasn’t like it was a crime to be nice to someone. He didn’t expect anything to really come of it, but it was a welcome surprise when it did.

“So you’re the guy that’s been leaving flowers everywhere. Ever tried just asking for a number?” Tony turned around.

“Are you offering it?”

“Sure.”

Tony smiled brightly, and the rest was history.

* * *

_Stony: Promposal_

“Tones, if you don’t get your boyfriend to stop asking me about how he should ask you to prom, I will tell him to make a sign that says, ‘Can I eat your ass at prom?’.” Rhodey’s voice was teasing, but Tony knew that if he didn’t take him seriously he would do it. That’s how Tiberius Stone ended up covered in chicken feathers and glue after the break-up.

“What do you want me to tell him? I’ve already let him know that he doesn’t need to do a huge proposal thing, and he’s still trying.”

“You do one first.” Tony turned his head to Rhodey, and ran a couple of plans through his mind.

“You know what, you are absolutely right.” Tony pulled his computer towards him and Rhodey rolled his eyes.

“If you start asking me, too, I will kill the both of you.” Tony flapped his hands dismissively at him and Rhodey knew it was going to be a long week.

Tony had figured out what he wanted to do pretty quickly. It was just getting him to do it that was the problem.

“Tony, you know he isn’t going to say no.” Tony was pacing around Rhodey’s house, like a miniature storm cloud.

“But what if i say it wrong?” He said back. RHodey raised his eyebrows before pulling out his phone.

“I’m calling Natasha.”

“I’ll do it tomorrow.”

Tony’s promposal was, although not extravagant, was sweet and short. There was a lot of applause anyways, as Tony and Steve were the star couple of the school.  

“You two are cute.”

Tony and Steve started asking about what they should wear for prom, and Rhodey was really thinking about taking that back.

* * *

_“I hate you but sadly my dog likes you”_

Clint swore his dog, he named her Lucky but she obviously was _not_ , came out of a trash can. She always managed to track dirt everywhere, even if he just washed her, and had managed to open his refrigerator and steal his pizza.

If he wasn’t so upset he would be impressed. But alas, stolen food.

She also loved his asshole neighbor.

His neighbor was either a mad scientist or a supervillain and either way, he was loud.  Clint could hear banging at two am five days out of seven. He wasn’t asleep at that time anyways, infomercials were god, but it was the principle of the thing.

The one time he introduced himself to Clint he said his name was Tony, and that was the only interaction Cint wanted to have with him. Lucky thought differently.

She would repeatedly yowl like at cat at his door until Clint let her out, then run next door and bark at Tony’s door until Tony let her in.

Clint didn’t find it adorable when his face lit up at the sight of her. He didn’t.

Because of Lucky - it was absolutely not on his own terms, damn you - he learned a lot about Tony.  He learned that Tony drank his coffee black but had a sweet tooth the size of a mountain. He learned that Tony was Italian but hated pizza, he would buy it just for Lucky, though. He learned that Tony didn’t have many friends, and the ones he did have were far away.

“I hate the loneliness, you know?” He had said.

Clint learned maybe he didn’t hate his neighbor as much as he claimed. He’d blame Lucky if anyone asked why he’d practically moved in.  

* * *

_Ironthor: Geek and Jock_

Out of all the relationships in the school, no one expected Tony and Thor to be together. Well, no one except Rhodey, Jane, and Sam, all of which had cashed out heavily the day Thor kissed Tony after the game.

They couldn’t really blame them, though. Tony and Thor never really interacted at school, the former busy with his glorified TA job and the latter helping out all the coaches in his, seemingly endless, spare time.

Tony was talked about a lot in school, it was inevitable with his status. Thor didn’t appreciate it much, but he thought Tony was the pinnacle of mankind. So Tony didn’t think about it much when thor said he was going to prove them wrong, just hummed and continued studying.

Then there was the homecoming game. Tony didn’t really come to the matches, the yelling and fighting was just not his scene. But Thor had coaxed and pleaded with Tony, ‘show up just this one, for me’, so there he was.

Thor had scored the final touchdown - as always - and, rather than stand in the endzone, he walked over to the stands. Specifically, where Tony was sitting. He climbed up into the stands before grabbing Tony’s hand. He pulled him into a kiss that lasted longer than it probably should have on school grounds.  Rhodey went so far as to yell ‘public indecency’. Thor giggled and pulled away, even though Tony leaned forward to chase his lips.

“As much as I love kissing you, why in public, i thought you wanted our relationship to be secret until graduation?”

“I love you?”

“Thor.”

“Just figured i’d give them something new to talk about.”

* * *

_Miles Morales_

Peter brings Miles with him one day and, to his shame, Tony didn’t realize what was going on until the first web bomb hit him in the face. He actually fell over, and raucous laughter erupted from somewhere above him.

It was so on.

Peter had Miles as a second, so Tony grabbed Clint. Although Tony couldn’t go in the ducts, the crawling motion messing with the reactor in his chest, Clint did and did so, prolifically.

They’d managed to crowd the boys unto the general floor, where they dropped out of the overhead vent and threw another web ball. Not one to fall for the same trick again, Tony ducked.

Steve caught the ball to the chest. Miles and Peter ran so fast Tony was certain they had kicked up a dust cloud.

“I have Super Soakers from the last time.” Steve said.

“Glitter water?” Clint asked from above.

“Glitter water.” Steve and Tony said in unison.

The next time they found the boys, they were in a side room plotting. Tony, Clint, and Steve all opened fire at once. It quickly devolved into and all-out war. The floor was absolutely soaked and almost everyone was covered in an odd glitter-web mix.

Natasha caught one of the web bombs and through it back without even looking. She was declared winner.

* * *

_Irondad: Biological Dad_

Tony never understood how weird parents were until he had a kid of his own. His carefully built boundaries had been practically destroyed in the aftermath of Riri coming into his life.

She was a wonderful child, but damn was she needy.

He had to start leaving his bathroom door open, even if he was in there, because at the drop of a hat she would start crying and just get louder until he came to the rescue.

He knew the minute she started walking it wouldn’t matter whether or not he left it open because she would find a way.

It was oddly comforting, having someone to depend on him. It made all of his jagged pieces hurt less.

Bruce was the one that commented on it, to his surprise.

“You’re different. Not even like ‘i’m exhausted because newborn’ different, but like ‘i’m getting better’ different. Did you start therapy after Riri was born?”

“Hm? No, although i probably should now that i think about it. JARVIS, make a memo -”

“That. That there, you’re getting better.” Bruce turns to him, something close to awe in his face.

“I told you she would bring the best out in me.” So maybe Tony was smiling a little brighter, and was sleeping a little better - whenever she let him sleep. He wouldn’t worry about it.

* * *

_There’s only one bed_

Rhodey was holding Tony up at this rate, both suits mangled beyond repair and Tony edging closer and closer into unconsciousness. He was stumbling through the snow, practically dragging Tony behind him, making slow but steady progress to the door of the safe house.

He carefully ignored how his vision was blurring and how his side was screaming or how there was probably metal embedded in his body. It didn’t even hurt that much anymore anyways.

Before the suits went down, Tony sent coordinates - and hopefully the last vitals check - to the Compound. With any hope, FRIDAY would send out someone to come get them. All they had to do was wait.

This safehouse had the bare minimum - one bed, a tiny kitchenette, some rations, and a severely lacking medical kit. He knew there was nothing in there that could help him out, but maybe there were enough stitches and butterfly bandages to close up the various cuts on Tony.

“Wan’ candy.” He heard from his right. He knew Tony mumbled nonsense when he was concussed, but usually his self control was better than that. He pulled Tony over to the bed, sitting him up against the headboard.

The cut on his head looked worse now, than it did before. He grabbed butterfly bandages and a terry cloth, and set to work. By the time he was done his hands were trembling, but Tony had color on his face and looked a bit farther from Death’s door.

“Rho’ey.” Tony gripped his arm, cold hands tightening and releasing around his wrist.

“Rest, Tony, I’m not going anywhere.” To prove his point, he climbed into the bed with Tony, shifting him so that Tony wouldn’t end up laying in the blood Rhodey would leak onto the bed until their rescue came.

Now that he was looking at it the metal was almost all the way out of his body, his immune system rejecting the intruder in his body.

“Rhodey.” Tony said more insistently, pulling on the wrist he had in his grip.

“Right here sweetheart, not going anywhere.” He didn’t.

* * *

_Soulmate AU: Taste What They Eat_

Steve lived at the unconnected dorms of the college, having not yet found his soulmate. They featured single rooms, built a little like miniature houses.

This was quite alright with him, even though he was certain he had a soulmate, and an impossibly rich one at that. He knew based on the way the savory taste of lobster would coat his throat and the sweet smell of rich chocolate would follow him around that his soulmate was either worth his weight in gold, or a amazing cook.  

He wasn’t sure which idea he liked better, he couldn’t cook for shit.

The reality, while not disappointing, was very odd, for lack of better word.

Steve woke to the taste in alcohol in his mouth, which, while not out of the normal, was concerning. Then he tasted pizza, more specifically, the leftovers he knew he had in his refrigerator right now.

Awake, and more importantly, confused, Steve walked into his kitchen to find… someone sprawled across the floor, the pizza box next to them.

“What are you doing in my dorm room?” The person asked, words not slurring despite the hint of alcohol still oh Steve’s tongue.

“I could ask you the same.” Based on the look on his face, it had finally dawned on him.

“Oh.”

“Oh, indeed. Come on.” Steve reached out his hand, listening to the gasp as he felt the same pull-release sensation of a soulbond sliding into place.

It wasn’t quite the aweing sensation his mother had talked about, but that was fine. His soulmate - Anthony ‘call me Tony, damnit’ Stark - was better than he could of imagined anyways.

* * *

_Irondad: Single Dad AU_

Rhodey didn’t know what he expected, walking into Tony’s house, but he knew it certainly wasn’t this.

He knew Tony became a foster parent, sometime in between handing Iron Man off to him and breaking up with Pepper, but he didn’t think he would foster three kids at the same time.

“Dad! Uncle Rhodey is here!” One of the kids - Peter, Rhodey met him on his first break from the new Avengers group - yelled around the corner. Tony came into the foyer, stockinged feet sliding on the floor. In his arms was another baby, a girl.

“Hey, Rhodes.” he says, an easy smile gracing his face. For all Rhodey had worried, the break-up was amiable and Tony is just as good, if not better, than he was when he was dating Pepper.

It’s surprising, but the good kind.

“Uncle Rhodey?” He asks, happiness an undertone in his voice.

“Brothers in everything but blood.”

* * *

_Tangled AU_

Tony may have made the biggest mistake of his life, coming to this tower and stealing Steve Rogers, certified magical boy with muscles to kill, but it was worth it to see that loneliness fade from his eyes and body.

He loved seeing the happiness, the innocence, that he carried with him.

“I’ve been looking out of a window for eighteen years, dreaming about what it might feel like when those lights rise in the sky. What if it’s not everything I dreamed it would be?” That innocence meant that he would get hurt one day, but Tony would be damned if it was going to be him that got rid of it.

“It will be.” There was a lull in the conversation, and Tony stilled, drifting in his own mind.

“And what if it is? What do I do then?” Steve always asked hard questions.

“Well, that’s the good part, I guess. You get to go find a new dream.”

They make it back to the city and Tony is suddenly fearful because he is a wanted man, and he doesn’t know when it happened but suddenly he realized that the idea of leaving Steve alone is terrifying.

He doesn’t get arrested, but the Skull takes Steve. Tony takes off after them.

The Skull stabs him, some kind of poison coating the blade. He kicks the Skull through the window, even though he doesn’t have much strength left inside his body anymore.

Steve looks at him, fearful concern flashing across his face, and he tries to comfort him, but his head feels like it’s full of cotton and his mouth feels like it’s full of molasses and sleeping is so much easier.

He wakes up to Steve crying on him. It’s not as romantic as it seems. The marriage, two years later and as nontraditional as they can make it, makes up for the lack of romance.

* * *

_Mutual Pining_

Steve was going to lose his mind if Tony and Bucky didn’t get together soon. When he offered to be a listening ear for them both, he did not expect to have to listen to them both lament about how the other absolutely could not be into them. Or how hot the other was. He now knows much more about how big Bucky thought Tony’s dick was than he ever wanted to, and the less said about the time Steve sat with Tony while he was drunk, the better.

He told Bucky this, but he just started loudly singing ‘Anaconda’ until Steve nailed him in the face with a throw pillow.

“How come you don’t just ask him out, Buck?”

“I killed his parents.” Okay, then. He’ll ask Tony next time.

“Why won’t you ask Bucky out, Tony?”

“Siberia.” He’s talking to Nat next, they were hopeless. He tells her as much.

“You and Sam were worse.” He can’t deny that. But he can try.

“Not as bad as Sam and Rhodey.”

“I still can’t believe that you are okay with your boyfriend dating someone else.”She’s lying, Steve has eyes and can see Clint’s relationship with Phil.

“Don’t have to believe it for it to be real. Anyways, how do I get them together?” Natasha smirks.

Three hours later, Natasha has managed to con both Tony and Bucky into going to the Italian place down the street.

Natasha manages to get them together in two weeks. Steve’s only regret was not asking her sooner.

* * *

_Naruto AU_

It starts bloody, it always does.

This time it’s the kyuubi, destruction. Konohagakure was almost destroyed, so much blood spilled that it soiled the river nearby.

The blood carefully avoids that corner of the village, the corner where he was.

They seal it inside him, young and confused and so scared. They make him a living prison of the monstrous creature that destroyed his home.

This is the beginning of the Merchant of Death, you would call him Tony Stark.

This is his beginning, but the ending is up to him.

* * *

_IronHawk: High School Teachers AU_

Peter knows about the betting pools, of course he does. It’s kind of hard not to.

High school students were bored and had nothing else to do besides bet on their teacher’s love lives, it’s normal.

One of the largest ones was the bet on Mr. Stark’s, the engineering teacher and one of the best teachers Peter had ever met, significant other. There was $500 running on Mr. Rogers being Mr. Stark’s boyfriend alone.

Peter was called ridiculous when he put $200 on it being Mr. Barton. He had an ace in the hole though, he saw Mr. Barton trying to kiss Mr. Stark through his desk last week.

* * *

_Mutant!Tony Stark_

It started when he was younger, when he was more innocent and didn’t _know_. He knows now, though, he knows far too much.

But he’s younger, then, he doesn’t know much of anything, but he does know that it makes Howard unhappy.

Maybe it only makes him unhappy because it makes the electricity short out, but Tony isn’t that naive. Howard only likes what he could profit off of, and tolerated just about anything else.

That’s not to say that Howard isn’t interested in it, to the contrary. He wants to know everything about it, even if it hurts Tony in the process.

It’s fine, he’s fine, Tony’s fine with his father’s casual objectification of him because it’s not like he expected any different and -

There’s tapes, tapes and documents that never got released to the public. Those tapes and documents know more about Tony than Tony knows about himself. He hates them with the burning passion he wished he could have for Howard.

He needs them now, though, because there are too many people here and too much for him to do to not know anymore. There’s too much riding on his, frankly terrible, control for him to be able to avoid these things any longer.

That’s how they find him. Deep into tape #3 and document T-4 and drunk off his ass. They find him that way and he’s far more okay with it than he should be, but it’s fine.

Tony’s always fine, now more than ever.

* * *

_Soulmate AU: Writing on Skin_

**tw: abuse**

Even before Tony knew soulmates were a thing, he loved his. His soulmate was creative, colors appearing across his skin like rivulets, and he _loved_.

It was why he dealt with the bruises that would paint his body just as frequently. It wasn’t like he could tell which ones were his and which one weren’t anyways.

Bruce Banner had never known about soulmates when he painted across his skin, only that it covered his pockmarked and damaged body.

His soulmate never wrote back anyways, not until he was 20 and so tired and scared. Then, equations appeared across his arms, code and variables appearing on his legs.

And one night, in big blocky letters, they wrote ‘I’M SORRY’ across his stomach. He didn’t cry.

He’s a liar.

Tony is on the 30 side of 20 and he hasn’t met his soulmate yet, but he doesn’t mind as much as he thinks he should.

It’s when he’s not looking that he finds his soulmate. His soulmate is Bruce Banner and Tony realizes that he loves him just as much as he did when he was 5 years old and covered in watercolor paint.

The rest is history.

* * *

_James Rhodes: The Shovel Talk_

**tw: unhealthy relationships** _  
_

James Rhodes was the older sibling of a large family, a caretaker and, if he’s honest, third parent for all his siblings.

It’s made him kind of crazy, and more than a small bit overprotective. It’s okay, though, the rest of his family is the same way.

Tony’s family, is notably not. James has had to do many shovel talks, and he’s perfected the subtle mix of threatening and charismatically charming that makes sure people listen to what he’s had to say.

Tony’s father, on the other hand, took more of a hands-off approach. James doesn’t judge other people’s parenting much, but that hands-off approach left Tony without social skills, nevermind an accurate representation of how relationships work.

Hence, James having to step in. He was right in doing so, too. Sunset Bain and Tiberius Stone were proof enough.

After Sunset, it took James five months to get Tony secure in his own body again. He wishes she got more than just blacklisted from coming to any MIT events.

The less said about TIberius Stone and the trainwreck thereof, the better.

James had good reason not to trust the people Tony dated, because Tony trusted everyone that showed him basic human decency, and anyone can show that when they want something.

So here he was, standing toe to toe with Captain America.

“I’m pretty sure you know what I’m here to say so let’s keep it short. If you hurt Tony, there is no place on Earth you’ll be able to hide from me.” Don’t avert your eyes, don’t shift your stance, don’t-

“If I hurt him, I’ll come to you myself.”

James can handle that.

* * *

_Secret Admirer_

Natasha is a smart woman, but even it takes a few times for her to realize what Tony’s doing.

The first was the widow bites, electric and easy to use. Then, there was the armor, heavily padded like it was designed to take hits and bulletproof. These could be explained away. A teammate concerned with the safety of his team, a tired man tired of watching people be injured.

Then there came the food. Her kitchen remained stocked despite her never buying food, and always with things she mentioned in Tony’s presence.

She tested it, talking about wanting some Ferrero Rocher chocolate. It appeared on her counter the next morning.

Well, then.

She could confront him about it, force him to acknowledge it, but she wouldn’t. Tony wasn’t a man that responded well to head-on confrontation tactics, he would shut down before they could talk about it.

She would just move her boundaries instead, let him closer until he felt comfortable enough to talk about it.

It took a lot of work letting him in, ingrained defense mechanisms flaring to life at his touch, leaving her flinching and shaky, but she did it. And he did in turn.

They never really did talk about it, but she didn’t think they had to, not anymore.

* * *

_Fake Dating/Relationship_

They tell themselves that this is the only way to make sure they get the right guy, this elaborate fake relationship scheme.

They both know their lying, but it doesn’t matter if no one says anything.

The resort is couples-based, and also suspected to be a part of a HYDRA facility. They are meant to be inconspicuous while they confirm whether or not that’s true.

Sam thinks if they truly wanted inconspicuous they wouldn’t have sent Tony Stark, but he has always played the game of taking what he can get.

He just didn’t know exactly how much he could get. It starts small - simple, light touches, meant to reassure, notify - but before he knew it they were quietly living a domestic lifestyle that he couldn’t remember even imagining having with anyone besides Riley.

He doesn’t quite know where the lines are drawn anymore, between him and Tony. Then Tony kisses him - chaste and gentle, nothing and everything he’d imagined it being - and he decides it doesn’t matter much anymore.

* * *

_Ironhusbands: Wedding Day_

Pepper swore up and down that the only bigger trainwreck than Tony and Rhodey’s relationship was their wedding.

She was right, but just barely.

Tony’s chauffeur got lost, and he was nearly an hour late to his own wedding. Pepper then proceeded to lose three stylists, a cook, and half the decorations.

Tony was giggling in his own part of the cathedral, so Pepper knew more stress was on the way.

Then Rhodey started crying, and Pepper would be damned if she made a bridezilla out of James Rhodes.

“Are you okay?” She was talking to a crevice in the dresser, since that’s where Rhodey had situated himself to ‘cry in peace’.

“Yeah.” It was practically a sigh.

“Then why are you sitting here crying?”

“It’s a lot.” Before she could respond, she hears the only stylist left whisper “Oh, I understand.” Pepper knew how to move out of the way when she was causing more harm than good. She was snappish, irritable, and that was absolutely not what Rhodey needed whilst in the middle of an anxiety ridden crying fit.

She made sure Tony knew his vows instead.

They had made their way to the ceremony and, for a second, Pepper thought she had managed to make a picture perfect wedding. Then Tony pulled out a sign in lieu of his vows, and Pepper knew what it said before she read it, because it was the exact same sign he had used to ask out Rhodey almost four years ago.

It reads ‘i’m gay 4 u’ and Rhodey starts laughing, even though he looks a little wet around the eyes.

Picture perfect wedding, it’s hard with those two, but Pepper got as close as she could get.

* * *

_Irondad: Father’s Day_

There are two people that Peter trusts to help him with getting Tony something for Father’s Day, his boyfriend, and the man he loved the most.

He finds Rhodey first.

“What do you think Tony wants for Father’s Day?” Peter doesn’t beat around the bush when it comes to gifts, he’s working with a deadline.

Rhodey’s eyes widen, before his face settles into an easy grin.

“Well, here’s what your going to want to do.” It takes Peter a long five hours to get it all down on paper, but when he does, he feels a sense of accomplishment, like he’s done something worthwhile.

He gets Bucky to read over it.

“You’re going to get waterworks out of him.”

“As long as they’re happy tears.”

He gives it to Tony offhandedly, nonchalant like he’d been practicing. On the back there are pictures clipped to it, depicting the happy moments he describes in his writing.

Bucky was right, he did get waterworks out of Tony.

* * *

_Blind Date_

Out of the two of them, Jim had the weirder friends. He knew a counselor with a penchant for birds, African royalty, and someone Tony swore was an assassin out to kill them both.

Natasha wasn’t out to kill them _both_ , as it turned out, just Tony. Via blind dating. Rhodey was exempt from this treatment, and Tony had yet to figure out why.

She said it was because she loved Rhodey more, but Tony _baked_ , and that had to have him ranked higher than James ‘I don’t bake I cook’ Rhodes. She still set him up with Steve Rogers. It goes about as well as you would expect. Tony stole four garlic breadsticks and ran for the hills.

Steve Rogers is actually a close friend now, which says more about him than it does about Tony, thank you very much.

Next was Rachel from Econ. She was a wonderful woman, and also a lesbian. Tony paid for the dinner and gave her Pepper’s number. Pepper showed up with Rachel in tow to the Rhodes dinner, and Tony called it being a good ex-boyfriend, and moved on.

He had just about resigned himself to being single throughout college when he met Clint Barton, Natasha’s ex… something. The details were more than a little fuzzy, and Tony didn’t think he wanted to know.

“Well, you could have just told me you liked stupid.” Natasha was talking into the open air, but Tony knew it was directed at him. Clint flipped her the finger, and that was the end of that.

* * *

_James Rhodes_

James was liberal with touch in a way that Howard wasn’t, never would be. He was friendly and nice and drew Tony in like a moth to light.

He’d never taken advantage of it though, the obvious infatuation of Tony - who was young, far to young for college at the time. But he had been there, allied with him against the harshness of that college campus, against Sunset and Ty and everyone else that looked at Tony and saw someone exploitable.

James taught Tony how to _be_ , and be _powerfully_.


End file.
